This invention relates to a system for loading and unloading small items such as integrated circuits (ICs) and a driver assembly which may be conveniently incorporated in such a system. More particularly, this invention relates to a modular system comprised of a plurality of units for automatically carrying out such operations.
When ICs are produced, they are taken to different work stations to go through numerous production and testing processes, and "vehicles" of many different types are used to transport them to and from such work stations. Examples of such vehicles include trays, elevators and tubes. In the past, ICs were manually loaded into and unloaded from these vehicles. With the continuing miniaturization of ICs and increase in the degree of their integration, however, such manual operations are not only inefficient but tend to adversely affect the quality of the products. To automate the loading and unloading processes is desirable but, since there are so many different types of vehicles which are used in the production and testing processes, it is too expensive and impractical to provide a specifically designed automatic loading-unloading apparatus for vehicles of each kind.